Houston Franchize 97 Gamble All Stars 94 Final!!!!!!

[KFDM COOP]

Final!!

[Guest abovetherim]

I thought this might be the year. Bet it was a great game.

[Bucof2010]

Probly would hav beat them like a dusty rug if they had Marsh

[Bobcat1]

Buc, I think they call that stirring the pot

[tvc184]

It was a very close game. The final score was true to the game and not like some games where a team is up by 12 with a couple of minutes left and then coasts. Gamble had the lead and then lost it at the end. Tremaine Thomas had a shot from 20 feet to put it in overtime at the buzzer but it rimmed out.

EDIT: I saw Tremaine Thomas for the first time in any sport tonight. He was giving up about 4-5 inches on most of the people he was up against and did great. Thomas was very physical inside but wasn't mugging people, just playing tough. He played a very good ball game and hit some key buckets. Great stuff. I can see why he was getting the recognition the last couple of years in more than one sport.

[KFDM COOP]

Awards team comes up short

By Cody Pastorella

The Port Arthur News

The fifth annual Port Arthur News/James Gamble Awards game certainly did not lack any excitement. The problem for the Gamble team was its lack of size, however.

With the 6-7 Mr. Inside finalist Willie Jefferson spending most of his night on the bench in foul trouble, the Awards team was completely outsized and came up on the short end of a 97-94 decision on Friday night at the Parker Center in Port Arthur, sending the Houston Franchize All-Star team home with a win.

This was the first time the prominent Lincoln coach, whose name and career inspire the event and awards, had to see his Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside team lose. But with the visiting team having at least three major Division I rectruits on its roster, standing at 6-8 or better, losing by three points was far from a loss.

The Franchize roster had 6-10 John Henson, 6-9 Ray Turner, 6-10 Anthony Jones and 6-8 Kelly Lawson.

Henson, who has verbally committed to play with the University of North Carolina, led all players with 26 points. Henson had just eight points at the half but between converting points off turnovers from the Awards team and putting up easy put back buckets, the junior threw down 18 in the second half.

Henson also brought down 14 boards in the contest, which was the most by any player.

The Awards team never rolled over and held leads for long periods of time, however.

Gamble’s sqaud was up 92-88 with less than three minutes to go in the contest.

The Franchize, which is coached by Port Arthur Memorial’s Terrul Henderson, cut the score to 92-91 when Darius Gardner (of Houston Yates) hit a three with 2:31 to play in the fourth.

West Brook’s Donte Lopez added a pair of free throws to give the Awards team a 94-91 advantage but Henson scored to make it 94-93.

Then Houston took its first lead, since midway through the fourth period, after Turner hit two free throws to make the score 95-94 with 1:17 to play.

That proved to be the decisive point as the Awards team never answered.

Gamble’s bunch did have two opportunities to win or tie in the wanning seconds of the contest.

The first came when the score was still 95-94. With about 33 seconds left, Breon Johnson, who led the Awards team with 20 points and seven assists, lost the handle while trying to drive through the lane.

That turnover caused Gamble’s team to foul, which sent Henson to the line for two. Henson made both to make the score 97-94.

[bulldog81]

PA News aticle continued:

Tramain Thomas took a shot at the top of three-point line for the tie as the buzzer went off, but it just wasn’t meant to be. Thomas’ shot banked out and Gamble’s Awards teams dropped to 4-1.

Thomas was the night’s biggest peformer.

The East Chamber’s standout and Willie Ray Smith Defensive Player of the Year award winner gave fans plenty to watch.

Thomas, who will be going to Arkansas on a football scholarship, scored 19 points, pulled down nine rebounds, made four steals and dished out four assists.

The senior guard looked very sharp running down passes like a top-notched defensive back would. In one series in the second half, Thomas finished an alley-oop, recovered his feet and ran down a long pass on the opposite end of the floor for the steal.

“He had a great night and he is certainly the athlete we have all heard about,†Gamble said. “But I can’t just single him out because everybody made a contribution at one time or another. This team played with a lot of heart. We lacked some of discipline at key times in the game. I wasn’t expecting us to have as many turnovers as we had. Turnoevers will kill you in any game but when you are playing against a team with that kind of size, you have to be especially sharp with the ball.â€

Just like they were in the first quarter, the Awards team came out in the third a little tight. Gamble’s squad owned a 54-50 advantage going into the third quarter but committed eight turnovers in that frame.

Houston converted seven of those turnovers into points and took a 78-76 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Franchize outscored the Awards team 28-22 in the third frame. The Gamble bunch did much of the same in the first quarter, committing seven turnovers in the that frame and allowed Houston to out score them 29-22.

The Awards team settled down in the second and fourth quarters. They only committed four turnovers in each of those periods.

The rebounding also took a turn in the second half.

As outsized as they were, the Awards team had a 23-19 rebounding advantage in the first half.

Much of that was because of the play of Central’s Jamar Gulley, a Mr. Inside finalist who had six rebounds in the first half.

But when going up for a dunk early in the third quarter, Gulley was fouled hard and went to the bench with a wrist injury. Gulley did not return. That put Gulley on the bench with Jefferson, who finished with seven boards, and Marcus Malbrough of West Brook who finished with a team high 12 boards.

Jefferson and Malbrough were both in foul trouble for almost the entire game.

Jacoby Joseph, a second time finalists for the Mr. Inside Award, scored 12 points in the game. He also had six boards.

Hardin-Jefferson’s Jarvis Bernard was a critical part of the Awards team’s success in the first half.

Bernard scored 13 points, hitting two from behind the arc in the first half.

Bernard also hit a bucket to tie things up at 35-35 midway through the second quarter. That was the second tie of the ball game. The first tie came early in the first quarter when Houston hit a bucket to tie the game at 10-10.

After that score, Houston went on a 13-4 run to stretch its lead to 23-14.

Just like they did all night, the Awards team fought back hard, however.

“They (Houston) were just a great team,†Gamble said. “They are very good and they had too much size for us. We just couldn’t match up with their size and that allowed them to get a lot easy buckets.â€

The sixth annual Port Arthur News/Gamble Awards banquet will be tonight at 6:30 p.m. at the Parker Center in Port Arthur where the Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside winners will be announced.

[THEBRAIN]

wow breon lead gamble sqaud in points and handled the roc most of the night i guess that dispells the thought he'll be the 3 rd best gaurd on squad next yr huh short like i said he is the best ball handling gaurd at Ozen and surprised everyone w his ability to score what happened to Lopez the Breon killer hope Gulley heals up he jumped a little to far out

[BMTSoulja1]

Gulley got hurt?

[bulldog81]

Gulley got hurt?

Broke his left wrist.

[KFDM COOP]

Ouch..

[Guest tigersvoice]

Gulley got hurt?

Broke his left wrist.

Really sorry about that Mr. Gulley.  Sincerely hope that there are no lasting effects from the break.  I believe you have a really nice career ahead of you.

[BMTSoulja1]

He's a tough kid.  Many times I have seen him hit the floor and jumps right back up.  He'll be back in full force next year.  Good luck on that rehab, kid.

[tvc184]

He's a tough kid.  Many times I have seen him hit the floor and jumps right back up.  He'll be back in full force next year.  Good luck on that rehab, kid.

He jumped up when he broke his wrist and looked like he was going to stay in the game and didn't want to leave the floor but you could see the pain was getting to him and he was pulled.

[shorttexas1]

wow breon lead gamble sqaud in points and handled the roc most of the night i guess that dispells the thought he'll be the 3 rd best gaurd on squad next yr huh short like i said he is the best ball handling gaurd at Ozen and surprised everyone w his ability to score what happened to Lopez the Breon killer hope Gulley heals up he jumped a little to far out

BREON WAS VERY AGGRESSIVE NO DISRESPECT HERE AT ALL...  THE KID WAS MOST EFFECTIVE PLAYER FROM THE GAMBLE ALLSTARS GOING TO THE BASKET.  WHICH WAS HIS STREGNTH ALL YEAR LONG.  HE CAN ATTACK THE PAINT. I NEVER DOUBTED THAT.  IT WAS FUNNY LOPEZ BARELY GOT ANY RUN (5 MINUTES IN  THE FIRST 3 QUATERS) THE ENTIRE GAME BUT WHEN IT WAS ON THE LINE AND THE GAMBLE SQUAD WAS DOWN SIX IN THE 4TH HE WAS PUT IN THE GAME AND THE BALL WAS TAKEN OUT OF BREONS HANDS.  THE GAMBLE SQUAD QUICKLEY WENT UP BY ONE.  THE LAST FOUR POSSESSIONS LOPEZ DID NOT TOUCH THE BALL.  THERE WAS A MADE LAY-UP FOR THOMAS, TWO FREE THROWS FOR THOMAS, A BREON TURNOVER WHEN HE WAS DRIVING THE LANE ON THE ENTIRE TEAM WITH ABOUT THREE GUYS OPEN, A SCORE THERE AND THE GAMBLE ALLSTARS TIE THE GAME, AND A THOMAS DESPERATION THREE... BREON hANDLES THE BALL WELL BUT lOPEZ WOULD HAVE BEEN THE POINT GUARD   AND DISTRIBUTED THE BALL.  GAMBLE CHOSE TO START BREON AND GIVE HIM THE REIGNS AND HE PROVVED TO BE A GREAT SCORER FOR HIM, BUT WHEN THE GAME WAS ON THE LINE LOPEZ WAS HIS POINT GUARD. NOW DO YOU SEE THE DIFFERENCE?

[shorttexas1]

He's a tough kid.  Many times I have seen him hit the floor and jumps right back up.  He'll be back in full force next year.  Good luck on that rehab, kid.

Yeah Gulley was under-cut by one of the Yates players that was actually an alternate for this game.  It looked as if he were going for the Jam!!  It was unfortunate but I figured something was broke...  The Houston team was BIG, REAL BIG...  That won the game for them... They just pounded it inside and got alot of rebounds and put backs...  It reminded me of the Texas Stanford Game...  Great gaurds of the Gamble team vs. the Bigs of the Houston Team.  Breon was a wild man in transition, often going to the rack at will drawing fouls and making baskets.  T. Thomas was a hand full all game...  Gulley was tough than any 6'10" kid out there and he played really big...  I haet his last AAU year is in the bag...  It would have been great for exposure.  Jacoby played big on D but was just a little slow on his release on his shots.  Willie laid an egg because he rode the bench so much and Malbreaux played big.  Lopez finished the game at the point.. Wish I would have seen hgim more throughout the game.  His back-to-back turnovers in the third got him yanked quick but he hadn't seen much floor time..  He was a little rusty.  But he finished the game hitting 5 big free throws at the end and running the point well.  The little guard from silsbee was lights out!!!!

[AggiesAreWe]

He's a tough kid.  Many times I have seen him hit the floor and jumps right back up.  He'll be back in full force next year.  Good luck on that rehab, kid.

Yeah Gulley was under-cut by one of the Yates players that was actually an alternate for this game.  It looked as if he were going for the Jam!!  It was unfortunate but I figured something was broke...  The Houston team was BIG, REAL BIG...  That won the game for them... They just pounded it inside and got alot of rebounds and put backs...  It reminded me of the Texas Stanford Game...  Great gaurds of the Gamble team vs. the Bigs of the Houston Team.  Breon was a wild man in transition, often going to the rack at will drawing fouls and making baskets.  T. Thomas was a hand full all game...  Gulley was tough than any 6'10" kid out there and he played really big...  I haet his last AAU year is in the bag...  It would have been great for exposure.  Jacoby played big on D but was just a little slow on his release on his shots.  Willie laid an egg because he rode the bench so much and Malbreaux played big.  Lopez finished the game at the point.. Wish I would have seen hgim more throughout the game.  His back-to-back turnovers in the third got him yanked quick but he hadn't seen much floor time..  He was a little rusty.  But he finished the game hitting 5 big free throws at the end and running the point well.  The little guard from silsbee was lights out!!!!

We here in Silsbee think highly of him too. Shannon kind of reminds me of the little point guard that Lamar has now, Kenny Dawkins.

[shorttexas1]

He's a tough kid.  Many times I have seen him hit the floor and jumps right back up.  He'll be back in full force next year.  Good luck on that rehab, kid.

Yeah Gulley was under-cut by one of the Yates players that was actually an alternate for this game.  It looked as if he were going for the Jam!!  It was unfortunate but I figured something was broke...  The Houston team was BIG, REAL BIG...  That won the game for them... They just pounded it inside and got alot of rebounds and put backs...  It reminded me of the Texas Stanford Game...  Great gaurds of the Gamble team vs. the Bigs of the Houston Team.  Breon was a wild man in transition, often going to the rack at will drawing fouls and making baskets.  T. Thomas was a hand full all game...  Gulley was tough than any 6'10" kid out there and he played really big...  I haet his last AAU year is in the bag...  It would have been great for exposure.  Jacoby played big on D but was just a little slow on his release on his shots.  Willie laid an egg because he rode the bench so much and Malbreaux played big.  Lopez finished the game at the point.. Wish I would have seen hgim more throughout the game.  His back-to-back turnovers in the third got him yanked quick but he hadn't seen much floor time..  He was a little rusty.  But he finished the game hitting 5 big free throws at the end and running the point well.  The little guard from silsbee was lights out!!!!

We here in Silsbee think highly of him too. Shannon kind of reminds me of the little point guard that Lamar has now, Kenny Dawkins.

Oh Yeah?  Well his jumper was pretty automatic!

[Master T]

Shannon is a true pg...somebody give me some information on how they thought he did and do anybody have any stats on the game

[Trad]

It looked like to me the refs were giving the Gamble team a few more breaks than Franchize. The worst call at the end of the game went Franchize way at a very timely moment. With under 2 minutes left and Franchize down by 5, they try a lob pass to Henson that goes out of bounds. Gambles ball clearly but one of the refs mistakenly calls a tip ball and gives it back to Franchize and they make the best of it by hitting a three and now they were only two points down. Does a bad call late in the game make a difference?

[Guest DickVitale]

You can't really say that one or two calls at the end of a game would make or break you...Then again, it depends on the situation, time left, score and the actual call...For example, a charging call with 2 seconds left and your team up 1, won't be as damaging as a 'push' called on the same play, that would send the opposing player to the FT line (assuming they are in the bonus). That would be a KILLER! He makes both FT's, now instead of being up 1 and probably winning, all of a sudden you need a miracle, or a heck of an inbounds play, in 2 seconds to win...So it just depends on the situation, really.

[Trad]

What about the situation Franchize was in? I know 1.5 minutes is a long time in basketball but up 5 is sometimes hard to come back from if played properly.

[Guest DickVitale]

Not really. Up 5 is 2 possesions and you're down 1...possibly...

[THEBRAIN]

NO DISREPECT TO LOPEZ BUT IT TOOK HIM A WHILE TO CATCH UP WITH THE SPEED OF THE GAME W EARLY TO'S BREON WAS TIRED LATE AND MAKE STUPID MISTAKES OTHER THAN  THAT I DON'T THINK HE WOULD HAVE GOTTEN MUCH RUN .BUT ANYWAY WE SHOULD HAVE WENT BIGGER BREON TT JOSEPH GULLEY AND JEFFERSON AND ROTATED MALBOUGH OF THE BENCH TO START WE MADE GAME WAY HARER THAN IT HAD TO BE .

[Trad]

"Way harder than it had to be"? Who did Gamble have that was 6-10? This game was going to be difficult to win period. All things considered, the Gamble team played a lot better than I thought they would. Most believed Franchize would win. I was more impressed with how the Gamble team played and less impressed with Franchize. Franchize should have won this game with no problem, but they struggled to pull very far a head.  And may the truth be known, the bad call at the end on the game may have cost Gamble the game. Hats off to the Gamble team, all of them.